Ekuinas chief executive officer Datuk Syed Yasir Arafat Syed Abd Kadir.
PETALING JAYA: Government-owned private equity (PE) firm Ekuiti Nasional Bhd (Ekuinas) is eyeing to complete investments in one or two companies before the year-end.
Without going into details, chief executive officer Datuk Syed Yasir Arafat Syed Abd Kadir told StarBiz the PE firm is “really fond” of the healthcare and manufacturing sectors.
“I think areas like healthcare and the pharmaceutical industry will continue to be positive.
“For manufacturing or certain export-oriented businesses, we continue to be keen on exploring investment opportunities in such industries,” he said after the ILTIZAM Catalyst 2023 achievement ceremony here yesterday.
He added that Ekuinas had a slight neutral-to-negative view on the retail and consumer sectors, as their performance continues to remain relatively soft in 2024.
“I think this year remains challenging, perhaps slightly better. I think there are a fair bit of challenges (especially in terms of) the inflationary pressure because of the removal of subsidies and so on. We can see that people are more careful in terms of their demand for certain products and services,” he said.
Earlier in May 2024, Ekuinas announced its investment of RM37mil in bumiputra industrial equipment maker Mizou Holdings Sdn Bhd. The PE firm had also acquired an 80%-stake in Penang-based pharmaceutical player Symbiotica at the end of May.
When asked for any updates on its proposed exit from sportswear retail group Al-Ikhsan Sports, Syed Yasir said it may be postponed to next year.
In 2016, Ekuinas bought a 35% stake in Al-Ikhsan for RM68.6mil. However in 2023, the PE firm started to have discussions to crystallise its investments in Al-Ikhsan via an initial public offering (IPO) or trade sale.
“We have yet to have any updates on that, but I think what we are going to do is probably defer it to next year or so in terms of an exit (of investments in Al-Ikhsan),” he said.
Syed Yasir said overall Ekuinas remained cautiously optimistic for financial year 2024.
Meanwhile, he said Ekuinas remained committed to empowering, strengthening and accelerating small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia.
Allocating a total amount of RM1.2mil for 2023, its ILTIZAM Catalyst programme had selected 17 bumiputra SMEs to strengthen their business potential in four critical areas – financial and compliance, branding and digital marketing, and technology adoption as well as leadership.
Since the Catalyst programme’s inception in 2022, Ekuinas has helped accelerate business growth of 38 bumiputra SMEs across various industries throughout its 12-month programme – which comprises assessments, technical and non-technical training by expert consultants, mentorship by industry leaders and monitoring.
Syed Yasir said Ekuinas had introduced five key performance indicators (KPIs) as a move to measure the effectiveness of the programme.
“We see the growing impact from the programme and out of the 17 companies selected this year, nine SMEs have achieved at least four of the five KPIs set,” he said.
For Catalyst 2023, 100% of companies gained improved clarity in their business direction, 94% improved their entrepreneurial and leadership capabilities, 71% experienced improved brand presence and business visibility, while 59% recorded an increase in product profitability and 29% improved their financial strength and business compliance.
“Ekuinas will continue our mission to create a thriving ecosystem for SMEs. The success of all participants completing ILTIZAM Catalyst 2023 today reflects the transformative effect of our programme,” he added.
ILTIZAM is Ekuinas’ corporate social responsibilty arm that undertakes sustainable development efforts by reaching out to the wider bumiputra community via three pillars – education, entrepreneurship and community programmes.
Applications are now open for ILTIZAM Catalyst 2024 which will be closing on Aug 15, 2024. Ekuinas encourages bumiputra SMEs registered with the Companies Commission of Malaysia with an annual revenue of between RM300,000 and RM1mil with a profitable track record in the last two years to apply.
